Navigators earn spot at state

The Northwest Christian baseball team finally got a chance to play its district tournament games - albeit five days late.

Wet weather had forced the postponement of start of the District IV 2B district tournament to Saturday.

Northwest Christian didn’t let the delay get in the way of its state tournament hopes. The Navigators clinched a state regional berth thanks to opening-round and semifinal wins over White Pass and Pe Ell on Saturday afternoon at Wheeler Field in Centralia.

The Navigators (20-0) will play for the District IV 2B title against Napavine on Tuesday afternoon. The game is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Adna, but there’s a possibility the game could be moved to Chehalis’ Bearcats Baseball Stadium, Northwest Christian assistant coach Todd Burres said.

“The guys did great,” Burres said. “It was a hot day, and they played great defense – not as solid defensively in the second game, but they made up for it with their bats.”

The Navigators defeated White Pass, 6-2, in the opening-round game, then came back in the semifinal to defeat Pe Ell, 12-6.

Pacific 2B League co-MVP Ryan Heinze had a combined four RBI, and Nathan Burres (7-0) and Nick Mailhot (6-0) picked up victories on the mound. Burres also was 2-for-3 with two RBI against Pe Ell.

Olympia bounces back, earns state berth: Olympia rebounded from a shutout loss earler in the day by knocking off Bellarmine Prep, 4-2, at the Class 4A West Central District III tournament at Heidelberg Park in Tacoma.

With the district’s No. 2 seed to state on the line, Olympia (19-3) was held to two hits in a 5-0 loss to Kentwood. That left the Bears in jeopardy of missing the state tournament, but the Narrows League champions proved their mettle against Bellarmine.

Olympia will play May 23 at Everett Memorial Stadium against the District I champion.

Track and field

River Ridge boys, Chehalis girls claim EvCo team titles: Led by Miles Coats’ wins in the triple jump and high jump, the River Ridge boys team edged second-place Black Hills, 116-100, to win the Evergreen Conference subdistrict track meet held at Sea Breeze Oval in Hoquiam.

Coats jumped 6 feet, 2 inches in the high jump and 47-41/2 in the triple jump. He also placed second in the long jump at 21-41/2.

Black Hills was led by Cody Peterson, who was a double winner in the 110 hurdles (15.11 seconds) and 300 hurdles (40.56). Peterson also ran the anchor leg on the Wolves’ winning 400 relay team (43.91). Ben Westrum had one of the biggest marks of the meet, throwing the discus a personal-best 161-10 to win by almost 20 feet. That is Westrum’s personal best by 10 feet.

On the girls side, Cydnicia Wade swept the sprints for River Ridge, winning the 100-meter dash (12.93) and the 200 (26.86). She also ran the winning legs of the Hawks’ first place 400 relay (50.45) and 800 relay (1:47.38) teams.

Elma’s Brandi Thomas and Chehalis’ Caroline Austin also were double winners. Thomas won the triple jump (36-10) and long jump (16-8). Austin won the 800 (2:22.81) and 1,600 (5:28.94).

Yelm’s Jesse Elvrom was a double winner – 300 hurdles (39.33) and javelin (184-8). Capital’s Joseph and John Ingman finished second and fourth, respectively in the javelin at 174-11 and 168-7. Capital’s Logan Myers won the high jump at 6-5.

On the girls side, Capital finished third as a team with 77 points, behind Bonney Lake (106.5) and second place Peninsula (102).

Capital’s 800 relay team clocked a winning time of 1:46.60, almost a second-and-a-half faster than second-place White River (1:48).